The Easter Weekend Has Reminded Me Of The Importance Of Family

The four day Easter break has reminded me how obsessed you can become with your smart phone and social media in general. Yes I was on it over the weekend, but considerably less than what I am normally. I wanted to enjoy the weekend more as a family without a constant glance or look at my phone and that’s exactly what I did.

Time with family is precious. It cannot be repeated because once those moments or milestones with your children are gone that is exactly it, they are gone forever and a photo of that moment is no substitute for actually being there and having the memory of seeing it with your own eyes. A photo is of course a nice memory but that’s it. If you weren’t there at that moment with your children a photo will never ignite the excitement, laughter, pride or love you felt for your children at that precise moment.

In my head I made a decision to put my phone down, keep in my pocket and just enjoy family days out. I don’t want my twin girls growing up with an everlasting memory of dad holding his phone constantly or saying far too often, I will do it in a minute, because you have uploaded your next photo to Instagram.

So what did we get up to on the weekend? It was a pretty jam-packed if I’m honest, but I want to create memories for the twins that mum and dad did this with us or that, or tell us in years to come remember when we did something etc, it was so funny, not turn around and say dad never put his phone down.

So here is a rundown of our weekend.

Friday

We decided, actually thinking about it we never decide! Our seven year old twin girls usually make the decision about what we end up doing, haha! So the girls wanted to go a farm.

We went to a farm that the twins and their mum had visited before. I hadn’t actually been before. Unfortunately since my wife had visited previously the farm had gone downhill and was very poor quality. We knew of another farm which we hadn’t been to before called the Amelia Trust Farm. We made our way over and first of all I was surprised at the entry fee of just £5 for a family ticket.

Upon entering we knew straight away that we had made the right decision. The farm was clean, tidy and really well organised with plenty going on. We took a walk around the area where there were lots of animals and grabbed a fab photo on a Celtic Cross.

We then headed off on a nature trail which I was expecting to be over in under 20 minutes, but a good hour later we were still walking around the nature trail! It had many activities along the way for the girls to do.

It was a fantastic day out at Amelia Trust Farm and I would highly recommend you visit.

Saturday

On Saturday our twin girls wanted to go to town. Their birthday was back in February and they still had birthday money left over. They had been to a birthday party a couple of weeks ago at a Build-A-Bear shop where they got a bear each, but not many clothes, so they wanted to buy some clothes for their bears which is exactly what we did.

Also check them out being street buskers in the video below. Their confidence never ceases to amaze me.

We have a family ritual whenever we go to town we always have a Burger King for lunch, and if I’m entirely honest it’s the only reason I go lol!

Sunday

Sunday was decided to have a few more family members join us and go out for a Toby Carvery Sunday dinner. and my mum very kindly treated us all. It was also nice that my 20 year old son who is back from university for the Easter break came with us. Two of my daughters were missing because of work commitments, but it was lovely all the same.

What I particularly love about days like this is the memories our seven year old twins are creating with their nana, my mum, who is now in her twilight years and thankfully she is still with us and the little memories they are creating will live forever in their minds just like this moment with their Nana wearing an Easter bonnet. The three of them always managed to make me laugh.

Monday

The final day of the Easter weekend was spent at the beach. It was the first time we had been this year and it was pleasantly warm. Not that it would have mattered when you are seven and you have a bucket and spade. and are at the beach. It’s fun all the way! We spent hours building sandcastles. The girls buried each other in the sand and there were constant visits to the sea to collect sea water for various reasons!

Of course finishing our day at the beach with a couple of funfair rides and most importantly an ice-cream cone! It was a fantastic way to finish the long Easter weekend.

What I have learnt from the Easter weekend is that I spend far too much time on my phone and social media. That is going to change from now on. There will always have to be an element where it’s unavoidable because it’s how I earn a living, but the weekends and time around the family means my phone is going away.

It’s so easy to get carried away with the masses of social media and quite honestly I think over recent times I have become far too obsessed. I’m now out the other side and my obsession is definitely waning.

What I now realise is that creating memories with your family and in particular your children is far more important to laugh, and just having fun is irreplaceable and I refuse to have regrets because my smart phone and social media got in the way, because in the great plan of life my wife, children and my family are the single most important people in my life, and just recently I think I have forgotten just how important that is.

Do you put your phones away to enjoy family time or are you there snapping a photo to upload to Instagram?

Or do you enjoy those magical family moments that create memories that last forever?

16 thoughts on “The Easter Weekend Has Reminded Me Of The Importance Of Family”

Tricky one as a family blogger, innit? I share what I want to share and keep a very tight rein on it. I actually think it looks very uncouth when someone shares every aspect of their lives and their Instagram stories look like morse code! So yeah, make memories and use social media sparingly. Oh, and Toby Carvery. Can’t go wrong!

I’ve been trying to keep the phone away as much as possible and only having it out for photos. It’s so hard at times though! I must say one of my easter highlights was watching your girls and Emily dancing…. honestly the innocence was heartwarming. I think kids need to know that entertainment isnt always in a phone or laptop and it made me smile to see it!
Thank you for sharing this with us at #TriumphantTales. I hope to see you back next week.

Sounds like you’ve had a great few days. I agree it’s so tempting to look at our phones all the time. I’ve started putting mine out of reach when I’m in the house and I try to keep it in my bag rather than in my pocket now when I’m out and about. #thatfridaylinky

I’ve made an effort to only use my phone for photos when the kids are up. I only work on my blog in the evenings and upload in the evenings (when I remember) unless it’s something the kids are testing out! We recently went away for a few days and we didn’t take all that many photos but we came away with the best memories! #ThatFridayLinky